Vietnam raked in over 8.8 billion U.S. dollars from exporting footwear in the first half of this year, witnessing a year-on-year increase of 14.2 percent, according to the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association on Friday.

Between January and June, largest importers of Vietnam's footwear products included the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, and South Korea, the association said.

Vietnam also earned more than $1.8 billion from exporting handbags, wallets, suitcases, hats and umbrellas in the period, up 12 percent.

In 2018, the country reaped $16.3 billion from exporting footwear and roughly $3.4 billion from exporting handbags, seeing respective year-on-year rises of 11 percent and 3.2 percent.

Forecasting that foreign-invested firms will boost production in 2019, the association expected Vietnam's export turnovers of footwear and handbag to expand by 11 percent against 2018.